Nashik, Feb 20 (PTI) A court in Nashik in Maharashtra on Thursday sentenced state agriculture minister and NCP leader Manikrao Kokate to two years in jail and fined him Rs 50,000 in a 30-year-old case of cheating and submitting fake documents to get flats under government quota.
His brother Sunil Kokate was also convicted in the case registered in 1995 on the complaint of former minister late TS Dighole.
The Kokate siblings had got two flats on College Road in Yeolakar Mala here under the chief minister’s 10 per cent discretionary quota after claiming they did not own flats and belonged to the low income group (LIG).
Dighole approached police at the time alleging irregularities, following which a case of cheating, forgery and other offences under Indian Penal Code was registered against the Kokate siblings and two others at Sarkarwada police station.
On Thursday, the two brothers were convicted by the Nashik district and sessions court, while the two others named in the FIR were acquitted.
Minister Kokate, who was present in court, told reporters, “I have obtained bail in the case and will file an appeal against the order.
